Dawn's Awakening
by Faladon25
Summary: A good story, even for me.
1. Epilogue

Dawn's Awakening  
  
___________________________________________________________Epilogue  
  
The small metal shaft that UBE crawled through now seemed to be restraining. But UBE had a purpose in mind. A single, overwhelming cause that defied all other feelings, one that was to be strove for without hesitation. This is what Ube had been designed and created for, with this one single purpose in his simple mind:  
  
To destroy Umbrella Bio-weapon and Genetics Laboratory.  
  
With shallow, light breaths, UBE made his way throughout UBGL, never stopping to rest. Now, finally, he stopped at a grate that looked down upon a small break room.  
  
"So Joe, when're you gunna meet me after work?" a tall man asked. "You said you'd go to the Renaissance Festival with me after you finished your shift," he insisted.  
  
Now Joe, a shorter, burly fellow spoke: "Come on! I have to work overtime, you know that!" The tall man sighed. "Well, tomorrow we'll go, okay Fal?" suggested Joe.  
  
Fal muttered his hesitant approval. "See you later, Joe," he said, exiting the room. "Bye," Joe quietly muttered after Fal had closed the glass door.  
  
Joe turned to retrieve his lab coat and exited through a different door. UBE followed him down the shaft and found Joe in another room, carefully handling test tubes. UBE identified the substance within the vials as the T Virus.  
  
He sighed and settled both the tubes he was holding into their metal holders. It was from thence that he strode across the room to grasp a pair of tongs. With these, he extracted a single fuse-like tube from its glass container.  
  
With his tongue between his lips in concentration, Joe turned and jumped in surprise, dropping the tongs that held the fuse-like tube. The glass fuse fell to the linoleum floor and shattered, releasing whatever it contained into the air.  
  
In front of the man stood a large, over seven feet tall, malformed creature, with a hole where one eye should have been, accompanied by an acrid stench. It had only one arm, a gargantuan muscular thing that reached to the creature's crooked knees. Where the other arm should have been was a long, fleshy tentacle.  
  
It was with this that UBE grasped Joe by the neck, flailing him violently about, until a loud, satisfying crack emitted from the short man. Thus, silently, UBE had begun his assault on Umbrella Bio-weapon and Genetics Laboratory.  
  
The creature tossed the limp thing in its grasp to the lab counter, crashing through the beakers and the vials containing the T Virus. A splash of the virus found its way into the lab sink, quickly falling through the drain. A guttural cackle issued from the creature's vile throat.  
  
UBE loped toward the door, felling it in its wake. The creature was greeted by a hail of bullets from the security guards of the laboratory. The steel missiles only angered the creature and it thrashed about, cutting through the guards like so much heated butter.  
  
Three guards down, with the rest of them fleeing in terror, and UBE was on the move once more, crashing through the lab in rage, while its masters looked upon him via security cameras.  
  
Umbrella Bio-weapon Experiment's creators were Umbrella defectors, who had been fired from Umbrella for being too rash in their high-risk experiments, UBE was one of them. Angered by their loss, the team of scientists had secretly created UBE in their two-week notices. They had released UBE on the last day of their two weeks.  
  
Hereinto, the creature bounded about the laboratory, destroying things relentlessly. Through solid glass he threw himself, creating a din heard all over the lab. UBE, however, didn't notice a dozen scientists as they escaped through the main high-security doors that led into Phoenix, Arizona. They ran through the pseudo hospital that was the laboratory's cover-up. 


	2. Chapter One: Travelers

Chapter One  
  
Three months had passed since the incident at the lab. The city of Phoenix had all but degenerated into a chaotic rabble of deserted building where the Afflicted reigned over all. Now only a few meager settlements of true humans remained it the evacuated city, of which, two or three were raided and disbanded every day. Now less than a couple thousand humans lived in a city that, at its prime, had contained many million. The lights of t he city, long deprived of necessary electricity, now lay dark, silent remainders of a vast city. Few whole buildings still stood, most having been destroyed in the battles of human and zombie.  
  
So, now the humans lived, if it could even truly be called living, a dismal life in the city, deeming it safer in the city than in the desert, where there was no cover; scavenging for any scrap of food and some sort of water.  
  
They couldn't drink of the city pipelines, for, in the beginning, the virus had somehow slipped into Phoenix's water systems. It did not help that Phoenix recycled much of its water, thus spreading any form of the virus that had reached it. The Phoenixians assumed there had been one of the Afflicted killed in the canals of the city, spreading it that way.  
  
But in all actuality, it had been Joe, the long-dead scientist, in his struggle with UBE, who had spread it unconsciously. His body had shattered beakers containing the T Virus. The virus in these containers got into the lab sink to be recycled throughout the city.  
  
Also, the scientists who had escaped spread the disease by direct infection, by scratching or biting others. It had taken awhile, the incubation for the virus being about a day, but by these two factors, water and direct infection, the City of Phoenix had fallen to the sheer numbers of the Afflicted.  
  
A certain group of humans, the self-styled Lone Wolves, now traveled from their old headquarters, having lost many team members from an Afflicted raid on their home the previous night. Now, the sun set below the horizon of decimated low buildings of Glendale.  
  
"Fal, can we stop now?" begged Sarah, tugging on Fal's tunic. "Sorry Sarah, but we must continue, lest we be overtaken," announced Fal, slowing for a second. He was weary; he had traveled many hours with no rest. "Very well, then. We'll stop." Sarah smiled, hugging Fal tightly. "Hey everyone!" she shouted to the crowd behind the couple. "We're stopping for the night. Find somewhere to stay."  
  
The other two dozen humans behind the leading pair halted in mid- stride. They, too, had been weary. Small factions filed out of the main force to find a veritable campsite. Faladon, or Fal, and Sarah went with John and Dorris, or just Dory, to an abandoned suburban home.  
  
It had two rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The rooms seemed mostly untouched by battles. The beds were fairly comfortable, the kitchen was well-stocked with nonperishable food, and the bathroom held a bowl of stagnant water, but also some medical supplies, which Dorris took, for she had been a nurse before the Afflicted had come to town.  
  
Everyone in the larger group placed buckets all around, for, since they couldn't drink tap water and purified water was rare, they simply awaited rain or dew, both of which were very rare also. Luckily, storm clouds had been brooding in the distance and now neared  
  
Even more luckily, the group with Fal, John, Sarah, and Dorris found a single bottle of purified water. This showed something about the family's demise. It showed that they had perished in the beginning, else they would have drunk all their available fresh water, which they hadn't. Lucky for the recent inhabitants, unlucky for its late occupants.  
  
Later in the night, Faladon stood guard with armor and weapons he had retrieved from the Renaissance Festival he had attended months ago: a leather tunic, thick robes with a hood and leather inlay, to help fend off bites or scratches, and a long, curved sword, also called a scimitar. There was a noise to be heard across the street from the building they occupied for now. This noise, no one heard, for they were all behind locked doors and windows.  
  
A single Afflicted crept out of the shadows, its coagulated blood glistening in the moonlight. It crept into the street, followed by over fifty fellow Afflicted. They had heard the sounds of life: laughter, speaking, and arguing. Thus, they advanced upon the cluster of living beings.  
  
Faladon saw them before they reached the home he and his friends lived in. He was up, off the couch near the window, and into the bedrooms. He quietly woke his companions. They rose and gathered their gear silently.  
  
"What about the others?" asked Sarah, always the considerate one. Faladon, the supposed leader of the group, answered: "If the others survive, then they will accompany us, otherwise, we take flight."  
  
None in the group wielded a firearm, for the noise would attract Afflicted. Instead, John used a makeshift spear made of salvaged steel piping, Dorris used a small knife and a crossbow, both looted from a hunting shop. Sarah used a sword, given to her by her lover Faladon, and a shield.  
  
Faladon slowly released the chain that held the door locked. The four leapt from the house, Faladon in front, followed by Sarah, then John, and lastly, Dorris.  
  
Dorris fell the first Afflicted with a bolt from her crossbow, while, at the same time, another Afflicted dropped, headless, from a slice of Faladon's. With the immediate Afflicted down, the group took heel, running full tilt away from the battle. 


	3. Chapter Two: Running

Chapter Two  
  
Crossing the broken asphalt at full speed, the group of four took flight with a barrage of asphalt chunks and crossbow bolts, from them, to the Afflicted. Sounds of battle from behind the company made them slow, unwilling to leave their team behind. However, a large, relentless group of zombies hastened their flight.  
  
Down a steep hill that also slowed the companions, they fled, taking a short refuge in an alley that joined two streets. They were soon smoked out by the Afflicted. Dory had ceased her firing and, instead, took up any miscellaneous object in her immediate area and threw that.  
  
A beer bottle shattered amidst the Afflicted, felling a couple in a splash of glass shrapnel, hurled by Dory. Faladon took a valuable second to shove an aluminum trashcan, with his foot, towards the zombies. It stalled their advance for a little, but wasted time, as they continued soon once again.  
  
Faladon, now second, behind Sarah now, felt a cold hand reach out from an open doorway to grasp his robes. He was tugged through the threshold and into the bare front room. Sarah and the others chased Fal into the house, ready to defend him.  
  
However, a steel door slammed shut, sending Sarah back into the joining alleyway. The company helped Sarah up before reluctantly fleeing back towards the adjacent street. Sarah looked back at where her lover had disappeared, but, now, the Afflicted pounded away at the door.  
  
Sarah turned. "We need to go back. We need to get Faladon," she said to the others. "No," said Jack in the southern accent he adopted when emotionally stressed. "He is gone, but if we go back, his disappearance will be in vain," Jack said, grabbing Sarah's arm and tugging her into the street. Sarah struggled and tore free of Jack's surprisingly powerful grasp. She sprinted towards the crowd of Afflicted, tearing through their ranks with a fury as yet unheard by mortals. Thus, she reached the door, but found it useless to try, as it was stalwartly locked. Just then, she was grabbed from behind.  
  
Sarah cried out as she felt sharp fangs dig into the tough flesh of her shoulder. Sarah thrashed about, crashing her shield and slicing her shield into all Afflicted around her. Many fell in her plight, but more filled their places.  
  
Before she blacked out from fear and pain, she heard a shutter open behind her and a cold hand bring her in. A faint sound of exasperated voices and then: nothing.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Will she be alright, sir?" asked Faladon concernedly to some unknown person. Sarah's eyes softly fluttered open. She was lying on some hard mattress on the steel floor of some bunker, it seemed. A soldier stared down at her, dressed in full fatigue. Faladon lay his pretty emerald green eyes.  
  
"I don't know, she doesn't seem too affected by the disease, but it hasn't been too long, either," answered the soldier. Faladon let a sigh of relief and fell to his knees to embrace Sarah tightly. Sarah hugged him back, though she was careful not to be moved enough to kiss him, as she may infect him unintentionally, through exchange of bodily fluids. "I love you," she whispered meaningfully into Faladon's ear. Faladon's smile was unseen by Sarah.  
  
Faladon stood, still looking down upon Sarah protectively. "She'll last until the day after tomorrow, at dawn's awakening," said he. "How do you know this?" asked the guard. "It's a long story. Here, let's sit," offered Faladon, pulling two chairs from a corner of the hospital-like room.  
  
"Well. you see," Faladon began slowly, considering every word. 


	4. Chapter Three: Faladon Tells All

___Chapter Three  
  
Faladon sat with his legs on either side of the chair, with the chair's back close to his front. He rested his head on the top of the back of the chair. Faladon then brushed his hair out of his eyes, attempting to capture both Sarah and Daniel Richards, the soldier, in his vision.  
  
"I worked at Umbrella Bio-weapon and Genetics Laboratory, confidentially. I was paid well, but I was never to speak of my doings there, lest I be fired. You lived with me Sarah. Did you actually think that a librarian could make six digits?" he asked at length, not truly expecting an answer.  
  
Thus, he continued: "One day, somebody unleashed some sort of creature; a dangerous thing, at worst. It wrought destruction upon the lab, killing many. I was among the few to escape; the only one lucky enough to escape uninfected.  
  
"Somehow, the virus spread. The virus was a risky experiment, created by some defectors, who were soon fired. I suppose it was them who had released the monster.  
  
"The virus had many effects. Within hours, it attached to human cells, sucking out their DNA, like one would with a straw. The virus would then insert its own DNA into the cell, converting it into a monster-like cell that ravages cells about it, which is why the Afflicted are so rotted. The cells, instead of chemical energy, begin to require living human blood's nutrients to survive. Without the blood, the cell's lysosomes destroy it from the inside. Thus, Afflicted who are deprived of blood eventually rot away into nothingness."  
  
The soldier gaped, shocked at what he had just heard. "The infected cells' absorption of nutrients is sluggish, thus making the creature sluggish. That is why we have an advantage," said Faladon. "So you mean that all of the Afflicted are slow?" asked Sarah.  
  
Faladon turned his gaze upon Sarah. "All those infected with the T Virus are, but I heard that the defectors had created, also, a G Virus, which allowed the Afflicted more mobility as well as a greater voice of reason. It's really scary to think of a smart zombie, but that's what I speak of."  
  
Daniel sighed in frustration. Sarah started to say something, but was cut off by a loud crash from overhead. Daniel stood, gun in hand. Faladon picked up his sword from the ground.  
  
"Where's my things?" asked Sarah. "Well, I wasn't able to get them before you blacked out. But here," he said, handing Sarah a long steel pipe.  
  
"The Afflicted have broken through the front door. Soldiers, make your way to section 3-a!" instructed a voice in a loudspeaker.  
  
Daniel took off towards a stairway and bounded up the steps, two at a time. Faladon turned to Sarah.  
  
"We must get out of here! I know where we can find an antidote, love. You will live, I promise!" Faladon told Sarah. The woman only smiled and nodded, then she stepped forward to embrace Faladon. "I love you," she whispered in Fal's ear.  
  
Faladon turned and took a step towards another flight of steps. "Follow me," he instructed softly to Sarah. Sarah nodded and together, they clambered up the stairs to a steel door. Faladon twisted the valve that acted as a doorknob and pushed the door to the left.  
  
They sprinted outside, only to be met by groans of agony. They flipped around, ready to face any who threatened them.  
  
John and Dory lay on the ground. John was rubbing his sore shoulder, while Dorris's eyes were narrowed in pain and her hand was at her forehead.  
  
Faladon could only stare. "How did you get here? Are you alright?" Sarah finally broke the silence. John stood shakily, then helped Dory up.  
  
"Well, when you were captured, Sarah went back for you," said John after they got situated. John then spoke again: "After that, we ran down the street and turned to the right, to find this one way alley. We saw this door and I guessed that it led into the building you were in,"  
  
John continued, "We were fiddling with it and then whoosh! It swung open and it hit us. Dory, you all right?" he asked.  
  
Dory had been dressing a wound on her forehead while John had been speaking. "Yeah, just a scratch," she replied.  
  
"We blocked up the only way into the alley with trashcans and other items in the alley. The Afflicted soon came and now we are trapped. Now, however, we can go inside. On the other side of the alley is a barbed wire fence," she explained.  
  
Faladon walked over to the other side of the alley, to where the barbed wire fence lay. A large hospital had been built on the other side of the fence. Faladon smiled broadly before a crash issued from directly behind him.  
  
Faladon turned to see four dozen Afflicted pour through the opening they had just made in the other side of the alley. "Hey! Over here! Let's go through this fence!" he shouted to the others. They ran to the base of the fence, just as more Afflicted streamed through the opening as well as the door that the company had just left.  
  
They drew their weapons, while Faladon was behind them, facing the fence, opening the links with the sharp edge of his curved sword. 


	5. Chapter Four: Violence

Chapter Four  
  
Fal scuttled through the hole he had just made in the chain link fence. The yard before him was ruined, the grass was overgrown so that it would rise to a man's waist if he waded through it, the one lone tree that stood near the center of the hospital's yard was leafless and scraggly. The hospital was a bright, overly white obelisk of a building that loomed ominously over the dark yard. The large moon, with the orange glow of a harvest moon, was settling behind the large building, creating a gloomy silhouette.  
  
Faladon turned to check on the others and found something was wrong. Dory gathered about the fence, trying to help John, who, evidently, had been cornered by the Afflicted. Sarah was collapsed on the long grass, unconscious. "Great," muttered Faladon under his breath. He dashed forward to John's aid.  
  
Fal fell with a crash of metal to the chain link fence. He jabbed inward at a zombie, catching it in the eye, which sent forth a burst of viscous, white liquid. That Afflicted staggered aside wounded, but not dead (again). Dory fired a bolt into the fray, felling an Afflicted. John lay on the cement ground, unmoving.  
  
Dory shouted at Faladon, "We need to leave! Take Sarah with you!" She fired another bolt into the mob and took off toward the hospital. Faladon nodded silently and rushed to Sarah's side.  
  
She was still breathing, but it was hoarse and shallow. Faladon bent to pick her up. He hefted her so that she lay bent with her head on his shoulder. He held her by her bottom very close against him, so that he could still wield his blade. He limped, with the extra weight, to the hospital.  
  
Fal was halfway through the grass when he felt a sharp pain that made him stumble. His shoulder was throbbing with pain. Sarah had dug her teeth into him. Faladon ground his teeth together but continued on, for if he didn't take her, she would die.  
  
He reached the hospital presently. "I was bitten," he noted when he arrived. Dory gasped. "How?" she asked. Fal lay Sarah on the ground and pointed low to her. "That's horrible. Are you alright?" she asked concernedly. "Yeah, yeah. Just get her to safety," he answered.  
  
Dory grabbed Sarah and gently dragged her across the floor. Faladon slammed the door shut and locked and bolted it. He sighed in frustration. Why Sarah? He asked himself, but then shook his head. "Needn't ponder on that," he commanded himself. He dragged a large filing cabinet across the floor, then shoved it against the door, to better guard against an Afflicted attack.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Downstairs, the three rested. Dory's watch said that it was 3 p.m. She lay on the cement, crossbow in hand. Faladon stood, propping himself against the sterile room's wall. Sarah lay on a daybed.  
  
Faladon was pondering. He was to find out where the entrance was to the lab that he once had worked at. Actually, he already knew, but he didn't have the key. Not even his frantic attacking of the steel door that led to the stairs that led to the laboratory.  
  
Dory left the room to find some food and drink. Faladon, his eyes closed in concentration, still leaned on the cold wall. He slowly opened his eyes to a sight.  
  
An Afflicted was crawling into the room. Faladon recognized, with a smile, the creature as the former James Thompson, another one of the scientists who escaped from the lab that fateful day.  
  
He took a step forward and, very casually, dug his sword into the Afflicted's back. As the Afflicted shuddered in spasms of true death, Fal reached down to retrieve a set of keys on the man's belt.  
  
He shouted in joy. He had the key to their problem, both literally and hypothetically. Dory dashed into the room. "What's wrong?" she demanded frantically, seeing the dead zombie on the ground, its dull blue eyes staring, unseeing, into space. Fal's smile was broad.  
  
"I found it, I found the key!" he cried. "Good," assured Dorris. "Now let's leave." A crash overhead brought them to their senses.  
  
"They are coming!" Faladon whispered manically. He leant down to pick up Sarah. Already, his vision was blurred. Sarah looked up and hissed noisily at him. Faladon brought his arm down to grapple Sarah by her neck and hold her face away from him as he walked slowly out of the room, stepping over the festering corpse. 


	6. Chapter Five: Conclusion, or a Beginning...

Chapter Five  
  
Down the blood-stained stairs, the trio stalked: Dorris in front, Faladon behind her, still holding Sarah in front of him, her face away from his body, her hands between her body and his. Strangely, they reached the bottom of the stairs with a lack of occurrence.  
  
At the bottom of the stairs stretched a seemingly endless hallway, dotted regularly with steel doors, many of them ajar, open, or nonexistent. A scratch to the side attracted the group's attention.  
  
A shriveled husk of a man (was it a man?) lay on the ground, his thin hand scratching the floor unconsciously, absent-mindedly. He slowly, wearily lifted his head to view the newcomers. His face was one of a malnourished senior; a hideous mockery of his previous self.  
  
He opened his wrinkled mouth to speak, but only a coarse, dry wheezing emitted. Dory stepped forward to give the man some of their newfound water. After a large quaff from the bottle, the man coughed for a minute, evidently from the water. He spoke a pair of words before laying still; "- our kin."  
  
"That was water you gave him?" Fal asked, his voice muffled a bit by Sarah's body. Dory turned the bottle around. "Cyanide!" she read. "Crap! Why would they have that at a hospital?" she asked. "It wasn't really a hospital," Fal told Dorris.  
  
"Wha-?" Fal interrupted Dory: "What did the man mean by that do you think?" he asked. Dory shrugged. "I don't know, maybe we'll find out," she considered. "For now let's get moving," she looked at her watch. It noted that the current time was 9:27 p.m.  
  
Thus, they continued past the corridor, ever watchful at the doors that led off to the side. After what seemed like an eternity, with the three comrades feeling like there was a zombie behind every corner, they reached the end, where Fal knew the antidote was.  
  
They were before the large, fortified steel door that led into the virus room. Faladon approached it first, tugging vainly at the handle. Fal fell back, out of breath, when Dory strode forward to take a turn. Sarah lay on the ground, her eyes closed, her chest now heaving.  
  
Suddenly, as Dory approached it, a speaker near the door blared into sound, startling the two that were presently conscious.  
  
"I know you are there," it crackled, barely intelligible. Dory jumped back from the speaker, surprised. She started to say something but was cut off by the voice.  
  
"I know two of you are infected," it explained. "I also know you want an antidote." Dory's shock quickly turned into anger. "How?" she asked the speaker harshly. "I have cameras all over. I have microphones all over. I also have monsters all over," it answered, now recognizably, a feminine voice.  
  
A crash from behind scared the two who were awake to acknowledge it. "See?" the voice asked calmly. Dory screamed at it, "Let us in!" The voice chuckled softly. "Get rid of one of them. I have but one antidote."  
  
A strange, malformed, disfigured creature bounded out of a room, evidently attracted by the speaker. It stared in rage at the trio, but seemed unable to move, for one reason or another. It stood over nine feet tall and was heavily built.  
  
"Please let us in," Dory's voice was now desperate, with the presence of the abnormal monster. "One of you will have to go," the voice commanded. "No!" she wailed, now pounding at the door.  
  
The creature took two determined steps froward, a hideous smile on its ugly, twisted face. Faladon sighed deeply, apparently in deep thought. He turned to Dorris, drawing his blade.  
  
"I'll go," he spoke solemnly, slowly. "What?" Dory asked hysterically. The voice from the speaker cackled with delight. Sarah coughed, spouting forth a gush of blood from her mouth. Dory shrieked and tore off a strip of cloth from her shirt to soak up the blood.  
  
"I'll go," he repeated. The voice laughed. The monster began advancing slowly. "On one condition," he said. The monster halted its movements. "That you allow me a fight with it."  
  
The voice stopped laughing and paused for a second, considering. "Deal!" it cried. "Step forward," it commanded. Faladon did so.  
  
The steel door opened suddenly, surprising the two. "Enter," the voice commanded bluntly. Dory bent to pick up Sarah. She brought her into the door. The door slammed shut. "Goodbye," the voice said. "No," screamed Dory's voice in the background.  
  
Fal strode forward, raising his blade to challenge the monster.  
  
The End  
  
Thus concludes this part in the ongoing story of Dawn's Awakening. Expect a sequel soon. Much love to my inspiration, Sarah, my only love, and thanks  
to Rain Nichole as well as my other fans.  
If I have any others. 


End file.
